The Monster They Sent
by Steve Phillips
Summary: Warning: Spoilers ahead. This is my version of the ending battle and scene for the Mass Effect spinoff, "Mass Effect: Infiltrator." In the game, Cerberus Infiltrator Randall Ezno makes a grim discovery that leads him to betray Cerberus. He escapes with secret research, and awaits a rendezvous with an Alliance ship. Cerberus sends a monster to prevent Randall's escape.


The power cells and fuel indicators on Randall Ezno's stolen shuttle began to show warnings that it was at the extreme edge of its range. He had enough to reach the unoccupied mining station on LV426, and not a moment too soon. His eyes narrowed as the shuttle crossed the horizon and into daylight, offering a clear view of the desert planet's barren, forbidding desert landscape below. The shuttle smoothly transitioned from space into the planet's atmosphere.

_The sooner the Alliance gets me out of here, the better,_ he thought. He was marooned until the Alliance ship arrived, and didn't intend to become a permanent resident. He flew the shuttle over a mountain range, and then, in the distance, he saw the mining station. _Right there, nice and neat._ As he slowed the shuttle, its handling got shaky against some occasional wind gusts. Nothing he couldn't handle, though.

He adjusted the heads-up display inside his helmet so that it would show him the shuttle's scanner. He wanted to know as soon as the Alliance ship was coming. He disembarked from the shuttle and took stock of his surroundings. _Windy, lot of dust and sand. Well it's a desert planet, there's a shock. It's way warmer here than on that ice planet, that's for sure. _

He inspected the facility thoroughly on foot, and found it empty. "No bad guys," he said aloud. "Just as it should be. Good, now stay that way." He was on his way back toward his shuttle when he heard a beeping in his helmet, and saw a blip on the heads-up scanner display. He thought for a moment that it was the rendezvous, but immediately he knew something was wrong.

_That ship's coming from the wrong direction_, he thought. _But it's coming straight here, and it's coming straight from the space station._ _No place else it could've come from_. He studied the screen, and knew that he didn't have long to wait. Cerberus had guessed his next move, and was sending troops to kill him. He studied the screen again. _It's got to be a shuttle. But, just one?_

Randall looked over the terrain; the mountains were too far if he wanted to try to hide out. He did have ample cover here, and nothing was going to sneak up on him. Cerberus already had their hands full defending the station, so how many troops could they spare? He hurried back to the shuttle, and made sure all of his weapons were ready.

From the scanner, Randall could see that the ship was close to the planet now. At that point, he heard the Director's voice in his headset. "Well, well, if it isn't Randall Ezno. Did you really think you'd get away with all the information that Inali gave you? You should have known I'd find you."

Ezno replied, "You and what army, Director? I know you can't ship an Ogre Mech off the station, and your troops don't impress me. Whoever you sent, I'll be ready for them."

"I'm so glad to hear that, Ezno. But I don't need an army to kill you. In fact, I only need one person. She's an old friend of yours…I'm sure Inali will be excited to see you again."

Randall's blood ran cold. He looked at the scanner, and saw that the shuttle was in the atmosphere now.

The Director spoke again. "I'm so proud of my success with this experiment, Ezno. Inali's made great progress. She's perfection in my eyes, the 'new flesh.' Killing you will be a great test of her capabilities. I just hope she doesn't kill you too quickly."

Randall heard the sound of the incoming shuttle's engines, grabbed the scope from his sniper rifle, and looked in the shuttle's direction. His mind began to race. _What the hell do I do now?_ he thought. _I can't kill Inali. I can't!_ And that, he was sure, was what the Director was counting on. The shuttle landed, and minutes later, a hatch opened, and he saw the monster they sent.

_Oh God, Inali...no..._

It was Inali. Or, what used to be her. Through the scope, he almost didn't recognize her, and then became sick to his stomach. Her hair was gone. He could see, even in the sunlight, the reddish glow of biotic implants in her head and neck that Cerberus had placed just under her skin. He saw thick black wires that ran from her head to beneath some type of body armor she was wearing. She also had a rifle.

As he began to see her face more clearly, he looked at her and saw…_nothing._ Nothing at all. Cold, passive, and blank, not a sign of humanity. She didn't notice the wind and sand, didn't flinch against the sunlight, and she wasn't hesitating in her approach. It was almost as though he were looking at a walking statue, with posture so upright it was almost like a mannequin. Randall's eyebrows rose, way up, as he saw her actually float into the air to avoid some rough terrain.

...

Inali's mind might as well have been watching the scene from a thousand miles away. This time, the dream had taken Inali to a desert planet. Mostly, as before, she had some sense of what was happening, but passively accepted the AI's commands, and felt nothing. Sometimes, she weakly tried to resist and retake control of her body. She wanted to turn around, to stop moving, to just close her eyes when she wanted to. Something, anything. She floated over some rocks, and crested a ridge as she approached some type of industrial area. She became aware of a man in body armor, far away. She accelerated toward him, and thought she heard his voice. He was calling her name, repeatedly, over and over. Then, her distant mind began to react at the sound of that voice.

_It's Ran,_ she realized. _They sent me here to kill Ran! No! NO! _And then, with barely another thought, she conjured a biotic attack and threw missiles of energy at him. She saw that all the missiles hit home.

...

Randall would never forget Inali's cold, lifeless stare as her missiles descended on him. He fell backward, spun around to his knees, and activated his cloak. He prayed that things wouldn't get worse, but already knew that they would.

"Inali, stop!" he shouted. "Listen to me!" He ran for cover behind an old control station, and caught his breath. He heard his cloak shutting down. "Inali, it's me, Randall!" he shouted. The moment after he finished speaking, he heard Inali taking out her rifle. Then the control station behind him was riddled with high-powered rifle rounds, with ricochets filling the air and stray rounds going past him.

_Dammit Ezno, forget about her! _he thought. _She's gone! That thing's going to kill you! _Some shrapnel was impacting his armor, but nothing had penetrated. Not yet anyway. He regained his focus and drew his own rifle. _I can't kill her. I know that I can't kill her. _

He looked over his shoulder, and saw that Inali had disappeared. Then he saw her materialize - _Cerberus gave her a cloak, that's just great _- as she conjured another attack. _Run. Dammit, run! _

Inali threw another biotic attack at Randall just as he began to move. This time, Randall moved fast and most of them missed. He ran to his left, shooting as he went. Several of his bullets struck Inali, and she didn't seem to feel it. He desperately launched a biotic missile attack of his own, and then sent a storm bubble at her. He heard her cry out and she became unsteady for a moment. Then he saw her emerge from the storm bubble, with exactly the same icy stare as before.

He engaged his cloak, and this time, ran for cover behind a rock. He chose his cover well, and bought enough time to study Inali's movements. She would cloak, float a short distance, and throw a biotic attack at some area of cover. Repeat. Repeat. _Basic search pattern…must be some sort of AI controlling her, _he thought. _Powerful weapons, but really basic moves…all right monster, let's see you handle something crazy..._

He aimed his rifle and deliberately missed, hitting a nearby structure. The all-confident AI that controlled Inali never considered diving for cover like a soldier would have, and instead it turned Inali and sent a biotic attack where Randall was no longer standing. He de-cloaked with a clear shot and a moment to aim, setting his rifle on full automatic, blasting the monster's armor for a few seconds and sending another biotic attack. She cried out again, and Randall couldn't stand to hear it. He ran for cover, then engaged his cloak as soon as he could.

He made Inali's AI second-guess itself, using cover and cloak to make moves that made sense, or made confusing ones, and then attacking to keep it off balance. He had a few chances to take aimed shots at Inali's head; each time, he couldn't bring himself to do it.

With mounting dread, Randall could see his attacks were beginning to have an impact, and wearing the monster down. The monster's movements and attacks seemed to be more erratic. Randall all but stopped using guns, just because he couldn't bear to shoot Inali again. But just the same, he felt that the battle would be over soon. _For God's sake, just put her out of her misery._

Then, as Randall broke cover, he fell to the ground. He tried to regain his feet, but Inali charged him and knocked him back to the ground. He felt like he'd been hit by a truck - _damn that hurt, how the hell did she hit me that hard?! -_ but he was able to turn himself towards Inali. And, only feet away, he couldn't miss. His biotic salvo sent her falling backward as he scrambled to his feet.

Inali staggered for a moment. Her eyes glazed over, and some of her biotic implants flickered. She didn't cloak. She didn't even move, and seemed to be looking past Randall, looking for something a thousand miles away. Seconds went by, and Randall was too surprised to press his attack. He kept his gun raised, and an insane part of his mind wondered if she was trying to recognize him.

"Inali?" he said.

Suddenly Inali's whole body staggered again, and Randall heard the Director's agitated voice over his headset: "This isn't over, Ezno. Taking direct control."

Inali's glazed eyes suddenly widened and turned toward Randall. _Oh God, _he thought. He couldn't bring himself to fire. Inali was conjuring another biotic attack, but this time her face wasn't blank. This time he saw that her face was grimacing…_emotionally_.

_That's not pain_, he thought. S_he's trying to break his hold! _

But then, it was no use. Inali grimaced all the more as she whipped her arms and unleashed another salvo of energy on him. It descended on Randall, knocking him through the air with the force of a dozen invisible sledgehammers. He struggled to breathe, and ran. _Cover. Get to cover. Keep running!_ He dove behind a rock and looked at his stealth generator. The light turned green, ready to cloak. _Thank God_, he thought, and activated it_._

The Director doggedly taunted him again: "Time to end this game."

_Couldn't agree more, asshole_. Randall ran from his cover, tensed up for another attack, and felt nothing. _She doesn't see me_. _Neither do you, Director. _He turned, and saw her. Inali was only a couple dozen yards away, and her face was again expressionless. Cold. _I've got a clear shot_, he thought._ Now. It's time._

He reached for his rifle, and carefully took aim. _Inali, forgive me… _

And then it happened. Inali jerked her torso, once, then twice, as though wrestling against an invisible attacker. Randall heard her voice, distorted through the awful machinery inside her, piercing into the air. "Randall!" she screamed.

Randall put his rifle away. _Maybe,_ he thought. And then, he began to sprint directly towards Inali. _This…had…better…work!_

...

The Director furiously fought to keep control. _You damn bitch, do what I tell you!_ Inali's resistance faded – the Director knew that it would – and he scanned the area through her eyes again. Then he saw a distorted form charging right at him. _Ezno - he's right on top of me!_

...

Randall saw that Inali's face was awash in despair as she suddenly wheeled toward him, a moment too late to repel his attack. Randall leaped and threw his shoulder into Inali's torso, and the impact was like a charging rhino. Both combatants went flying, landing in the desert scrub. As fast as Randall could, he jumped onto Inali and began to rain biotic attacks upon her. _Break loose! _he thought. _For God's sake don't make me shoot you again!_

...

The Director's control screen became a dizzying sight under Randall's attacks. Inali's visual and audio implants were saturated with incoming biotic energy and couldn't process what was happening fast enough. And now, those implants were under direct attack themselves. Her peripheral and central nervous system implants were reacting too. Alarm warnings sounded, and the Director shouted at the screen, watching helplessly as implant status indicators turned yellow as they were damaged, and then turned red as they failed. And with that, he knew that tremendous amounts of Cerberus research would soon fall into the hands of the Alliance.

The Director seethed, and cursed the day when he reviewed Inali Renata's impressive recommendation and approved Randall Ezno for advanced Infiltrator training. He looked at Inali's readings again. His control connection was failing, and Inali's life signs were fading as well.

...

Inali's eyes rolled back, and her body fell limp. Randall threw off his helmet, and frantically looked for any sign of hope. "Inali…Inali, talk to me…"

_She's unresponsive…check her airway, see if her chest rises and falls…YES…hang on, Inali…_

Randall began to deploy his field medical gear, and then heard the Director's voice through his headset again. "She deserved it," said the Director. "You have no idea what she's done." The bastard sounded spiteful. Randall tried to keep his mind steady through his grief, shock, and now, anger.

_Concentrate…follow battle casualty check list…please please don't die …_

Randall's voice was heavy with menace. "What _she's_ done? She's still alive, asshole...and it's nothing compared to what you've done to her..."

_Her major arteries look ok, body armor protected her...external bleeding isn't as bad as I thought…her pupils aren't dilating evenly…she's got bad internal bleeding…shit…_

Randall's focus stayed on Inali as he spoke again. "...and it's nothing compared to what I'll do to Cerberus, and to you, Mr. Director. Pray that your Illusive Man kills you first, because I will make that my lifelong mission!" Then Randall switched off his com.

...

The sound of the wind was all that remained.

_You're out of your mind, Ezno,_ he thought. _Now you're just prolonging her agony_. He assembled a makeshift shelter around Inali. _For all the good that'll do, _he thought. Inali's best chance, her only chance, would be if the Alliance ship could arrive in time to save her. And maybe if their ship's doctor could work a miracle. If…if…if.

As he tended to her, Randall thought he heard a low voice. A woman's voice.

"Randall…" she said.

The voice was distorted, but undeniably, Inali's. She was only slightly awake, but she could see the tears in Randall's eyes. She felt pain in every inch. And worse, still felt those horrible implants, and remembered the nightmare surgery.

"Ran…finish me...please finish me..." said Inali, and her consciousness began to fade.

Randall's face fell. "Forgive me Inali," he said. "I can't."

...

Finally, he just sat. He didn't know how long – minutes that seemed like hours, but really he didn't know. He looked at the medical kit's emergency defibrillator, and wondered how long it'd be before he used it on Inali. How long before, he expected, it would fail to save her.

His headset crackled with static, and then he began to hear a voice: "Randall Ezno, this is the Alliance ship _SSV Normandy_, do you copy? Randall Ezno, this is the _SSV Normandy_. Over."

Randall turned on his com and spoke quickly. "This is Ezno. Hurry the hell up! There's a wounded woman here. She's in bad shape!"

"Copy that Ezno, we're getting a medical team ready. We're just a few minutes out."

Randall looked as his stricken friend. He spoke again. "_Normandy_, some things you need to know…this woman, we're close, Cerberus did experiments on her. They put a ton of biotic implants in her. A few minutes ago the damn Director was controlling her by remote trying to kill me. I shot her. I used biotics on her. The area's secure now but hurry up. She's dying, she'll be dead if you don't hurry."

A moment passed.

Randall heard the man from the _Normandy _speaking to someone else, but couldn't hear what he said. Then the man spoke to Randall again, and his tone sounded more urgent this time. "Got it, Ezno. Just hang on. I've got a good lock on your position now. We'll do what we can."

After what seemed like forever, Randall heard the rumble of a sonic boom, followed by the distant sound of engines. He looked toward the horizon and saw the _Normandy_ approaching. _Deep scout frigate_, he thought absently. _Probably has a ship's doctor and some crew who double as medics_. Then he looked at Inali. "Stay alive," he said softly. "Just…stay alive."

Inali's eyes fluttered open, and she looked at Randall. "Hey Ran..." she said, barely a whisper. "...Do you think...biotics like us have better sex?"

He removed a glove, and gently touched her face. "Try not to talk," he said. "Help's almost here."

The _Normandy_ settled down and lowered its boarding ramp. The wind kicked up and Randall tried to cover Inali from the blowing sand. Things were bad enough already. Randall saw a medical team coming down the ramp. A crewmember in full tactical gear, a woman, ran ahead of them at a sprint. This was no medic.

The runner yelled, "Where is she?" as she approached. Randall gestured toward the makeshift shelter. The woman removed her helmet as she arrived, and leaned inside. Her head was shaven, except for a dark ponytail.

Randall saw a fierceness in the woman's eyes that he'd rarely seen on anyone. He prided himself on never being intimidated, but he found himself stepping backward. "I had no choice, I had to -"

The fierce woman's jaw began to drop, and her eyes began to widen with horror and sadness at the sight of Inali. Biotic implants, some of which still glowed dimly. Gunshot wounds. Biotic wounds. Thick wires leading into Inali's skull, and God only knew what else. The woman glanced at Randall with narrow eyes, then her focus returned to Inali: "Just be quiet and give me a minute," she said.

Inali looked up at the woman and managed a slight laugh, even though it hurt. "I like...your hairstyle..."

"Shhhh. What's your name?"

"Inali."

"I'm Jack. We'll be good friends after you live through this."

Randall saw Jack begin to form a bubble of biotic energy around Inali. But it didn't have the violent turbulence of the storm bubble that he used as a weapon.

Jack looked at Randall and said, "That'll buy her some time."

The medics began to examine Inali. "Christ almighty," one of them said. Another saw Inali, gave a worried look at Randall's weapons, and then said, "What the hell did you do to her?"

"Don't start with me, dipshit!" yelled Randall.

Jack glared at the medic, then looked at Randall. "Don't worry about them," she said. "Let's give them some room."

They worked quickly, and Randall handed over his weapons to a couple of other crewmen. The wind blew hard again, and he helped them carry Inali to the ship. And even though they were on a desert world, Randall felt like a cold ball of ice was in his stomach.

The woman named Jack looked at him as they carried her. She said, "You're going to kill them, right?"

Randall didn't flinch this time. "Yes. Especially that Director. I swear to God, I will kill every last one of them."

The woman looked angry, but Randall could see that it wasn't directed at him. As they hurried up the boarding ramp, she spoke urgently into her headset. "Commander, this is Jack, tell Joker for God's sake we've gotta haul ass. I mean _now_. And Shepard…you've gotta see this. Out."

The blowing wind was silenced as the boarding ramp closed. Randall and the woman steadied themselves as the _Normandy_ began to take off, and then accelerated with a jolt. They began to stand, and then watched as the medics rushed Inali toward the medical bay.

"She doesn't have a chance, does she?" asked Randall. It felt more like a statement than a question.

The woman looked at him, and began to notice the battle dents and burns in his armor. "Who knows," she said. "Maybe she'll get lucky."

Randall shook his head. _I'm so sorry, Inali_."Damn it," he said. "Just, damn it all."

"Hey soldier," the woman said. "You got her this far."

And when she said that, for the first time in a long time, Randall Ezno allowed himself a moment, just a moment, of hope.


End file.
